I haven't seen the screen in action, but I've gotta think anyone with even fairly minimal Java or Objective C experience could put together a pretty convincing fake. Unless Tap to Verify shows like a hash of some verification code or whatever that can be checked with the servers. That would make it pretty daunting.

In any case, very very VERY nice to finally have some kind of off-board fare purchasing.

I've found a possible loophole that I won't post here and would be easy for anyone to do but haven't validated it yet. It's not related to the driver verification but is the way KCATA is doing something. Will let ATA know as it can be easily fixed.

It's easy to do though is still several steps and maybe not worth the hassle after a few times and maybe ATA doesn't care. Boarding is up to driver discretion anyway.

edit: Turned up nerd volume to 11 and confirmed that it works, though I won't actually use it. Would be able to get free passes. Sending to ATA and Dave. Fun to put the white hat back on.

Last edited by earthling on Wed Jul 12, 2017 12:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Plan my Trip is pretty hit or miss. Some of the routes it's given me have been absolutely insane.

Where's My Ride? recognizes me on GPS but the map goes to random places for some reason. It also takes way too many clicks to get to where I can actually find out where a bus is and it doesn't give a time or schedule.

Yeah nothing can really top Google Maps. "OK Google, navigate to Union Station" - try it, then click on the transit icon. Walks you to nearest bus stop, shows countdown timer to bus arrival in some cases. Have gotten several people timid with transit to use bus first time given how easy this makes it. You don't need to learn bus lines or look things up.

BTW if your phone is rooted on Android, you can use Magisk to hide the rooting from the app. Never understood why apps try to block from rooting, it's easy to avoid for those who need root anyway. It would be like Windows or Mac apps not allowing to have Admin access.

With a closer look at how timer screen works, it would be easy for a novice scripter to emulate and the bus drivers don't look closely even if a poor job. But many transit systems work as an honor system anyway and this would be no different. Recall a stat that says those systems tend to get about 5% fare avoidance abuse, which probably isn't enough to harden the method down.